May 20: Solving CA's civic engagement problem
IDEA Director panelist on Zócalo Public Square's discussion on civic disengagement
UCLA IDEA Director John Rogers was a panelist on Thursday night's Zócalo Public Square at the Petersen Automotive Museum. The topic--Why Don't Californian's Talk About Politics?--hoped to delve into why Californians are simultaneously angered by a broken governing system and civically disengaged. Voter registration is low and even just the rate that Californians discuss politics with family and friends is among the lowest in the nation. Joining Prof. Rogers were Pete Peterson, executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University, Karen Thoreson, president of the Arizona State University Alliance for Innovation, and R. Michael Alvarez, political scientist at CalTech.
FOR FULL COVERAGE (including photos and video) of the discussion and steps that can be taken to engage more citizenry, visit zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/05/19/we-need-to-talk/read/event-rundown/